I had an awesome night last night! After our Thanksgiving 2, A.K.A Turkey Chili Night, a group of us went to Pete's Piano Bar. If you have never been, you should really try to go sometime. It's a blast. There are two pianos on stage, and two performers. They sing and play the pianos and get people all involved and up on stage with them...awesome place for a bachelorette party. Anyway, we were singing and dancing along all night having a grand time. But there was a moment that will probably stay in my memory for the rest of my life.

Someone asked the singers (by passing them a beverage napkin with a request and some cash) to publicly thank Ryan, a Seargant in the US Army. So they called him up on stage, this kid. He couldn't have been more than 21. He is being shipped out to Iraq in January, and his friends wanted to have his work recognized. As he stood up there, the performers said they would sing a tribute to him. They sang, "God Bless the U.S.A." by Lee Greenwood. Everyone in the audience was singing, singing to Ryan. And this kid was standing there all by himself looking at all of us and even from the back of the room you could see he was tearing up a bit. And then all of the sudden, everyone started standing in honor of this young man none of us knew. One by one, people stood. And slowly no one was left sitting. The performers then asked all current and former service members to join Ryan. About 15 went up on stage and stood with him looking down at all of us, and for one moment, we were all American. There were no Democrats, or Republicans or any hatred of any kind. You could just feel it in the room. In this loud, smokey bar. Everyone forgot about their drinks, and gave tribute to these people who work so hard to protect our country. It was truly one of the most amazing moments of my life.